updated 03:25 pm EDT, Tue October 14, 2008

Quanta MacBook Exclusive

Apple's supplier has not only been named for its new MacBooks but considers the American company a significant client, industry contacts claim today. Well-known southeast Asian supplier Quanta is said to be Apple's sole supplier in 2009 and already considers the Mac producer a crucial component of its sales, with a full fifth of its 2008 shipments alone going to MacBooks. The exact number of shipments to Apple specifically hasn't been set, though its portables are said to be ensuring "strong" shipments of between 38 to 40 million portables to all vendors.

Despite its larger size, HP will only have contributed 20 to 30 percent of Quanta's production this year with about 10 million notebooks, although the latter is unlikely to be the sole contractor given HP's size.

The move represents a switch from previous suppliers such as ASUS and Foxconn, which in the past have made Apple's MacBook lineup. It also suggests Apple carrying relatively equal weight at Quanta where it has previously been considered a smaller but significant vendor.

It also reveals Quanta as the chief provider of Apple's new unibody manufacturing process, which is said to create thinner, lighter and yet also stronger portables out of single pieces of machined aluminum.